v3 @ Hyper Island

On the 12th November this year, v3 Partners Richard, Graham, Estelle, and Stuey set off for Stockholm to take part in a three day intensive Master Class with Hyper Island.

We wanted to see what all the fuss was about and hopefully bring back some learnings for v3. We weren't disappointed.

There's a lot of mystery surrounding HI and getting any form of agenda before hand proved impossible. It really is something you have to experience to understand and it quickly becomes apparent that there is no 'wow' or 'silver bullet' moment. More hard work and time. The answers were to come from within, with the group playing a key part in the learning.

The facilitators were great and quickly helped us get over the awkwardness that 25 strangers sat in a circle almost always provides. The group were a mixture of age, nationality and profession. The only thing glueing us together was the fear of 'digital'.

The first task was to create and agree on a common purpose for our time together. A way to judge the success of the three days, and a way to keep us on track in case of going off piste.

The common purpose was "Tools to create change, together."

There is a formula at HI, this is surely why they are so successful, and able to do it anywhere in the world, but what impressed was how tailored they made the experience feel. For example, guest speakers spent the whole day listening to the team share and debate our fears whilst they quietly edited their deck to address them. When they spoke, they referenced our overheard conversations, helping us to deliver our purpose, in this case giving us tools to operate in this new world.

Each speaker engages the group with workshops and breakout groups to ensure learning, the model was great, 60 and 180 second workshops. Think quick. Play back. Move on. It was fast paced, exciting and very tiring.

We left after three days with a whole new energy for what we do. We had new models, new ideas and a new confidence and we put it straight into our work the first day back, ripping up and starting again a pitch we were doing for Discovery Channel.

With all these things, a three day course is not 'the answer', and it can easily be forgotten quickly if not applied but it is the start of learning to learn again. It's been over ten years since we'd finished university and this was the first real challenge since then. It is, hopefully, the first of many.

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